Horizontal spinning ring with traveler positioning means



Nov. 19, 1968 A. J. WAYSON 3,411,286

HORIZONTAL SPINNING RING WITH TRAVELER POSITIONING MEANS Filed April 12, 1967 what 22 /a /2 c I 2o I6 30 28 v s24 I:

J E3r9.5. g 4 22 r 26 \l 42 mm s 4/ 22 2e 40 12 IO United States Patent 3,411,286 HORIZONTAL SPINNING RING WITH TRAVELER POSITIONING MEANS Andrew J. Wayson, Needham, Mass, assignor to Merriman, Inc., Hingham, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Apr. 12, 1967, Ser. No. 630,446 14 Claims. (Cl. 57120) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to the textile industry and comprises a new form of horizontal spinning and/or twisting ring and a new combination of horizontal spinning and/ or twisting ring and traveler in which the supporting web of the ring is so constructed that the inner end of the traveler will always assume a fixed vertical and radial position with respect to the ring. As a result of the novel combination, the clearance between the top of the ring and the underside of the traveler at normal operating speeds will be of a substantially constant and adequate dimension, thereby to preclude yarn passing under the traveler coming into contact with the adjacent surface of the ring. In this way, trapping of the yarn, which is a major cause of ends down, is prevented.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention and description of prior art The invention relates generally to the textile industry and particularly to horizontal spinning and/or tw st ng rings and travelers used thereon in spinning and twisting frames. Hereinafter when reference is made to spinning rings and spinning frames, it will be understood to include twisting rings and frames. In small size horizontal spinning rings, the travelers used therewith are necessarily of correspondingly small dimensions and the clearance between the underside of the traveler and the upper surface of the ring is kept as small as possible thus to lower the center of gravity of the traveler which facilitates high speed operation. During operation, the available space must be adequate for the yarn to pass under the traveler and thence to the bobbin without engaging the surface of the ring. This condition, however, does not always pertain in the prior art because the traveler may assume varying vertical positions with respect to the ring as the traveler speed about the ring changes from an empty to a full package. That is to say, because of the configuration of the flange surfaces of the ring and the thickness and position of the web wall, the radial and vertical position of the conventional traveler on a horizontal ring may vary according to the spindle speed, thus changing the spacing between the underside of the traveler and the ring. Because of the decreased space that develops between the ring and traveler under certain conditions, it has been found by some ring manufacturers expedient to provide a substantial bevel on the upper inner corner of the ring thereby to increase the clearance with the traveler without changing the travelers center of gravity. This, however, is only a partial solution to the trapping problem.

The present invention is aimed at providing a differently designed supporting web which will be contacted by the traveler. The web has a novel interior wall formation, which formation cooperates with a traveler whose inner hook end is enlarged so that in normal operation the inner end of the traveler will always move in sliding circular engagement with a particular part of the web and the adjacent underside of the inner flange of the ring thus to maintain the traveler at all rotational speeds at a con- 3,411,286 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 ice stant vertical and radial position. The result of this novel construction is that the clearance between the underside of the traveler and the top inner surface of the ring will remain constant and be adequate to permit the yarn to pass under the traveler without trapping and free of engagement with the upper surface of the ring. This construction gives assurance that the yarn will not be broken or soiled on its way to the bobbin.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In summary, the invention comprises a novel surface construction on the upper inner portion of the ring supporting web which in cooperation with the under horizontal surface of the inner flange of the ring forms a wide angled circular notch whose apex is most remote from the spindle axis. The inner web surface (called the wall) instead of being vertical as in a conventional construction, slopes upwardly and outwardly at the upper part of the web at an angle that is preferably between 5 and 15 but not limited thereto. This upward slope terminates preferably in an upwardly and inwardly curving cylindrical surface of very small radius to lead into the more or less horizontal under surface of the inner flange part of the ring. However, the web wall and the under surface may meet directly omitting the intermediate con necting curved surface.

If used, the concave curved cylindrical surface connecting the sloping inner wall of the web with the underside of the inner flange is preferably in the order of .015 but may be more or less in accord with the size of the ring or width of the flange. The intersection of the web and flange surfaces present an apex which is a maximum and fixed distance from the spindle.

The traveler that is designed to operate with this novel ring formation, preferably has on its inner hook end an enlarged head or covering of synthetic material such as for example nylon, polyacetal resin, polyamide or Teflon. This enlarged portion has a configuration that will permit it to engage in sliding relation with the sloping inner wall and the underside of the inner flange. When the spindle is in normal operation at full speed, the forces involved cause the traveler to move outwardly so that the enlarged covering or end piece on the traveler rests in the notch formed by the web wall and underside of the inner flange. Thus, because of the ring configuration, the traveler during operation is necessarily located at a fixed vertical and radial position. It is prevented from moving upwardly by the underside of the ring flange and from moving downwardly because of the slope of the inner web wall. The traveler head thus always moves adjacent the maximum circumferential line and is maintained at a constant vertical position with respect to the ring.

As those familiar with this art will recognize, the present invention insures that the traveler and ring relationship. remains constant throughthe up and down travel of the ring rail and at the reversal of movement of the ring at the bottom and top of the rail travel. There is no momentary vertical separation of the traveler and ring at reversal at the bottom of the rail movement so trapping is prevented at this position. Similarly, the traveler holds to its position against the ring at the top reversal of movement. Thus, there is no change in the character of the yarn any place throughout the rings up and down travel cycle. The quality of yarn depends on maintaining as even a yarn tension as possible and the present construction aids in achieving this result. This is particularly true in the manufacture of primary yarns in which the continuous filaments are drawn and thereafter twisted by the ring and traveler of the present invention.

The following is in further explanation of the nature of the invention. Conventional horizontal travelers are designed to bear against the lower inside surface of the inner flange of a conventional ring. On the contrary, the traveler for the present ring is designed to avoid the flange surface and instead to have its bearing against the vertical tapered wall and the underside of the inside flange.

The present traveler has therefore been changed so that the enlarged head or covering on the inner end of the traveler will run in the notch formed by the tapered wall and under surface of the flange thereby causing the traveler to avoid contact with the inside flange. The shape of the extended head preferably will also match the angle of the notch formed by the wall and the underside of the inner flange as closely as practical.

It will be understood by those familiar with this art that by changing the contact area of the synthetic head of the traveler with the herein disclosed ring, greater or lesser yarn tensions can be obtained. For example, this can be done by varying the size of the nylon head or end covering on a constant diameter steel wire traveler. An operating example would be in the plying of two ends of 70 denier stretch nylon on a diameter ring putting in 1 /2 turns per inch at a spindle speed of 12,150 r.p.m. using no balloon control rings on a traverse down twister. With a diameter nylon head, yarn tension at the top of the stroke Was 53 grams. Changing to a diameter nylon head, the tension at the top of the stroke was increased to 61 grams.

Narrower increment tension changes can be made by changing the wire size, from .015" to .018 as an example, while maintaining the nylon head size. This procedure can be followed when small changes are needed. For greater changes, the diameter or contact portion of the nylon head or end covering can be increased or decreased to give correspondingly greater or lesser tensions. The flange width can also be variedfor example for the spinning of 1s cotton count yarn the flange could be .250" wide.

With the high speeds possible with this new ring, it is of major importance to have nylon, polyacetal resin or other lower friction material on the end of the traveler to contact a lubricated sloping web wall and the underside of the inner flange. Preferably that part of the traveler against which the yarn is in contact should be of steel, ceramic, steel coated with ceramic oxide, tungsten carbide, or other wear resistant materials.

Under suitable operating conditions, such as lower yarn speeds or the spinning of less abrasive yarns, special design all nylon, polyamide or other synthetic travelers can be used. Such materials have a low coefficient of friction so that when moving against a lubricated surface the traveler 1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a cross section of a novel ring construction drawn in the patent drawing to double actual size. The actual full scale vertical dimension of the ring illustrated is A silo type of oil supply is shown.

FIG. 2 shows the upper portion of a ring drawn to greately enlarged scale with one form of cooperating traveler in normal operating position.

FIG. 3 shows a modified form of traveler head on the end of the traveler. Also an alternative way of directing oil to the surfaces engaged by the traveler head is shown.

FIG. 4 shows another means of attachment of the traveler to the enlarged head which will cause the traveler to move about the ring at a somewhat different angle.

FIG. 5 shows a traveler head made from rectangular stock.

FIG. 6 illustrates another form of end piece secured to the traveler in a different manner.

FIG. 7 shows the nature of engagement of the end piece shown in FIG. 6 at the fixed location in the notch formed by the sloping web wall and the underside of the inner flange.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown in enlarged scale a cross section of a horizontal spinning ring which incorporates the invention. The unit comprises a base 2, a web 4, and the ring portion supported thereby. Operating parts of the ring are the outer flange 6 and the inner flange 8. A circumferentially extending oil groove 10 is shown which groove is sealed by a cover plate 12. The ring is made preferably of powdered metal which has been pressed to ring form and sintered. In this condition, the ring is porous so that oil in the groove 10 will work its way through the ring to provide a thin film of oil on the surfaces that will be in contact with the traveler. Those surfaces which do not need to be lubricated may be coated in conventional manner with a sealing material. The ring may be made of any other suitable substance such as steel, bronze, synthetic materials (nylon, po-lyacetal resin, polyamide, etc.). It is to be understood that no limitation is to be placed on the material of which the ring may be made, except that the relationship of the ring and traveler must permit easy movement of the traveler thereabout.

Oil may be supplied in any convenient manner as, for example, by the silo S from which extends passages 13 and 14 to groove 10.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 which are drawn to greatly enlarged scale, it will be seen that the web 4 has for its inner face an upwardly outwardly sloping surface 15. The angle of this slope may vary considerably but ordinarily will be between 5 and 15. The upper edge of surface 15 blends into an inwardly concave curved surface 16 of very small radius which surface extends inwardly at the top to meet the under surface 18 of inner flange 8. Surface 18 will ordinarily have a slight upward inward slope in the order of 5 or less so that the included angle between face 15 and surface 18 will be in the order of to 90. FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show the face 15 sloping at about 15 with an included angle of about The apex 20 of the wide angled notch formed by the web wall 15 and the underside 18 of the inner flange is at a position most remote from the spindle.

In FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 a traveler 22 is shown in cooperating relationship with the ring with the yarn 24 passing under the traveler on its way to the bobbin on the spindle. The clearance C between the upper surface 26 of flange 8 and the traveler is adequate for passage of the yarn 24 without trapping and without encountering the ring surface 26.

On the inner hook end of traveler 22 is an enlarged head or covering of synthetic material substantially larger than the traveler. This head as shown in FIG. 2 may take the form of a short bar of nylon or Teflon indicated at 28 drilled to receive the hook end. The inner end 30 of covering 28 is preferably shaped to fit within the wide angled notch and to present a relatively large area that will be in sliding engagement with the converging walls.

Under normal operating conditions, the centrifugal force generated by traveler 22 will cause the traveler to assume the position shown in FIG. 2 with the inner end of the enlarged head 28 fitting snugly against the sloping web wall 15 and the under flange surface 18. Thus it will be seen that the radial and vertical positions of the traveler are fixed during normal operation. It cannot move downwardly because of the inward-downward slope of surface .15, nor can it move upwardly because it is already in engagement with surface 18, nor can it move farther from the spindle because it is tight within the notch.

The sloping surface 15 need only extend downwardly for as much distance as is required to engage the inner end of covering 28 when the spindle is inoperative. Then, when the spindle starts and the traveler accelerates, the inner end of covering 28 will climb the sloping surface to reach its maximum up and outward position as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. However, as a matter of convenience in manufacture, it is preferable that the inner sloping surface 15 extend downwardly until it meets the inner vertical wall 38 of the base of the ring. This gives additional rigidity and strength to the web, making it possible to cut away a portion of the web as indicated at 40 in FIG. 3. This may easily be done by grinding the web along a chord at the side of the ring that faces the operator for a short circumferential distance to subtend a small arc in the order of By having this cut away area available, the piecing up operation is greatly facilitated. The extra strength afforded by the increased horizontal dimension of web 4 makes this possible without endangering the integrity of the ring flanges over the small angular distance necessary where the wall is reduced in thickness.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 show other types of end coverings that are equally effective in maintaining constant clearance between the ring and the traveler.

In FIG. 3, the head is in the form of a disc 28', pierced to receive the end of traveler 22 in tight fixed engagement. The horizontal dimension is great enough so that the full width of under surface 18 is engaged. Similarly,'the edge 41 engages wall 15.

It is necessary that the wall 15 and surface 18 engaged by the traveler head be lubricated. FIGS. 1 and 2 show lubricating means in the form of a porous metal ring. FIG. 3 shows how lubrication could be accomplished if the ring were of solid steel. An oil passage 42 may lead directly from oil groove 10 to the intersection of wall 15 and surface 18. During operation, the head 28 will pick up the oil and spread it over all of the engaged circumferential surfaces.

FIG. 4 shows another arrangement of the attachment of the head 28" to traveler 22. The terminal end 43 of the steel portion generally parallels wall 15 to enter the head 28" from the side rather than from the inner end. This causes the traveler to run at a slightly more acute angle to ring flange and thereby to change the traveler resistance to movement about the ring. This is one way that the yarn tension can be varied.

It will be understood that the enlarged head does not initially have to engage walls 15 and 18 in the closely fitting manner illustrated. It is sufficient that both walls be engaged thereby fixing the traveler position. After a short period of use, the head wears itself to the shape of the walls as shown.

FIG. 5 shows still another form of head in its initial unused shape. This head 44 is made from a rectangular bar of synthetic material, drilled in the same manner as head 28 to receive the end of the steel part of the traveler. In operation, head 44 will of course engage both wall 15 and surface 18 and will soon wear to a better fit.

FIG. 6 shows still another way of attaching an end piece to the traveler 22. The inner end of the traveler is twisted to form a small generally vertical loop 46. The end piece 48 has a cylindrical extension 50 which is forced intoloop 46 to maintain the end pieces in suitable operative position which is shown in FIG. 7.

In FIG. 7, the wall 15' slopes at about 7 /2" While under surface 18' slopes upward at 5 to make an included angle of 87 /2 The intersection of the surfaces while less rounded, does not impede traveler movement.

From the illustrations given, it will be understood that the end piece regardless of particuular dimensions or configuration will always run against the two sides of the notch and at a maximum possible distance from the spindle. Because of the shape of the traveler, the traveler will always be entirely clear of the inner flange and a constant vertical clearance between the ring and traveler will be maintained.

It will also be understood that the shape of the end piece may be varied as well as the means of connection with the traveler. The only requirements are that the end piece is capable of making sliding engagement simultaneously with the flange and wall surfaces to give a determined vertical and radial traveler position and that the traveler be clear of the inner and outer flanges of the ring.

In order to give some idea of the small dimensions that can be involved and why the maintenance of the clearance C is essential if trapping and soiling of the yarn is to be prevented, a number 0 ring has a flange only .093" in width and the clearance C might be less than .05". Thus it can be seen that the maintenance of a constant operating clearance C which is successfully achieved by the present combination is very desirable.

It is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the examples of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. The combination of a horizontal spinning ring and traveler, said spinning ring comprising inner and outer flanges supported by a circular web, the upper portion of the inner wall of the web sloping upwardly and outwardly, the under surface of the inner flange of the ring being generally horizontal, said sloping wall and surface intersecting to form a wide angled notch, and a cooperating traveler whose inner end comprises an enlarged head of synthetic material which when the traveler is up to speed will reside in the notch with part in engagement with the said wall and part in engagement with the said under surface whereby the traveler will be maintained in fixed clearance with the ring.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1, said ring being made of rigid porous material.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2 in which said ring includes means for supplying oil to the interior thereof.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which the traveler is of steel except for the enlarged head.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4, said enlarged head having an opening therein in which the end of the steel part of the traveler is in tight frictional engagement therewith.

6. The combination set forth in claim .1 in which the slope of said inner wall of the web is not less than 5.

7. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which the said enlarged head of the traveler is made of synthetic material having a lower coeflicient of friction with re -F spect to said ring than steel.

8. The combination set forth in claim 1, said ring having an oil receiving groove in its upper surface and means for transmitting oil from said groove to those areas of said wall and undersurface that are engaged by said enlarged head during operation.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8, said oil transmitting means comprising a passage running from said groove to at least one of said areas.

10. The combination set forth in claim 8, said oil transmitting means comprising rigid porous material between said groove and wall and undersurface.

11. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which the included angle between said wall and said undersurface is less than and the said undersurface slopes upwardly away from said wall not more than 5.

12. The combination of a horizontal spinning ring having two intersecting circular surfaces one of which is above the other, the lower of said surfaces being in the form of a truncated cone sloping upwardly and outwardly and the other in the form of a generally horizontal annulus, the said intersecting surfaces forming a wide angled circular notch the apex of which defines the maximum distance of the notch from the ring axis, and a traveler having on its inner end a synthetic element large enough to engage simultaneously the lower truncated conical surface and the other intersecting circular surface thereby to remain at a fixed vertical position and at a fixed radial position during operation.

13. The combination set forth in claim 12 in which the apex of said surfaces resides in a narrow connecting 7 circular surface curved in cross section and the end of said traveler during operation resides against said connecting surface.

14. The combination set forth in claim 1 in Which said Web is of reduced thickness along a limited portion of its outer circumference to facilitate piecing up.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Laurency 57125 XR Gilligan 57120 Ragan 57120 McLeod 57119 Ragan 57-125 XR Wayson 57-12O FOREIGN PATENTS Germany.

8/ 1897 Draper 57125 XR 10 JOHN PETRAKES, Primary Examiner. 

